JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4975, 14 March 1895, Page 3

JOTTINGS from WELLINGTON.

(By Our Own Correspondent,) Tuesday. Pot shots tit Polities.—The Premier y and Sir Robert Stout,—Sir S, Stout's Meeting.—More Developments of the Shop and Shop Assistants Act.—Throw ; PtyshtothDojs.—ANw Caravanserai. m~T/:c"New Woman "in Wellington ™ Latest Developments— Arc The]/ Unitesirable Immigrants.—Russian' Jewish Erilei.—Sharks and Bathing. The WelUngtonlnternational Exhibition. Is i( Feasible /—St. Patricks Day in the .( Morning.—A IFild Rumour. The Great Arbitrate>; Case,—ls Trial by Jury phyed out /—The Burglar Sim. It is rumoured here, in political circles, that the Premier has now finally sevored his connection with the West Coast, and has no intention of going back there to reside. I. It is also further asserted that, should Mr Seddou not go Home as Agent-General, when Sir Westby Perceval's year's extension of office lias expired, he will most certainly contest one of the Wellington seats against Sir Robert Stout. As it is likely that the four chief centres in the Colony will, before tho next general election, be split up into \J separate electorates, it,seems reasonable to suppose that the Premier will do bis best to oust Sir Robert Stout, for whom he entertains « anything but kindly feelings. Wero Pie city electorates split into three divisions each, it might 1)0 possible for Mr Seddou to dislodge Sir Robert Stout, but if the Cities remain as at present returning three members for the whole j constituency, this would not be an easy task, for taking the electorate as a whole the Government is decidedly unpopular in Wellington. Sir Robert Stout's meeting last! v night went off with great hint, and | the senior member for the City re- j ceived a great reception. Of course, j there was a certain amount of inter- j ruption, and once or twice a counterdemonstration was attempted, but the meeting as a whole was too entirely in accord with Sir Robert i for any such attempt to succeed. One laughable incident occurred, however. Somebody in the pit of the Opera House proposed three cheers for Mr Seddon, which were vociferously given by the whoie house, tho large majority being under the impression that it was Sir Robert , gtStont tliey were cheering, The deof the individual who had caused the demonstration was unbounded. In common with many others, I personally was greatly disappointed with the speech. There was far too little bread and a monstrous deal too much sack for my i liking. The 11 bread " consisted of Sir Robert's views on the aims and objects of truo Liberalism, and the " sack " was nothing more nor less than a rehash of the peccadilloes of the Ministry of which we have had such a surfeit both from the press and from politicians of late. There was very little that was fresh and new in Sir Robert's speech, andmany of his most ardent supporters are keenly disappointed at the want of originality which was shown. Eloquent, Sir Robert Stout always is,and that, combined with his earnestness and great personality, was quite sufficient to carry the meeting with him, but still the address was in many respects a weak one, and not jflvlutt might have becnoxpected from man of his calibre. The recent prosecution of Mr W. C. Fitzgerald, the well-known Wei- 1 . lington chemist, throws a new light upon the now notorious Shop and Shop Assistants Act, and the manner in which its provisions are despotically enforced, It appears that oil the evening of Wednesday last, Mr Fitzgerald attended at his establishment for tho purpose of dispensing medicines and giving 1 advice. His shop, owing to matters requiring urgent and pressing attention, remained open a few minutes after 9 p.m. Now the law prevents a chemist, no matter how large and important his practice may be, from employing assistants to help him dispense during the two hours he is v allowed to remain open for the purpose, on tho evening of the halfholiday. It follows very often, especially in a large town like Wellington, that numbers of urgent prescriptions accumulate during the afternoon, and the unfortunate dispenser has, single-handed, all his k Aigtt-oA cut out to prepare them before "closing time. Mr Fitzgerald has also a large practice as a consulting chemist, and as people won't be reasonable and get ill during the proper hours, it makes the closing of the shop exactly to the minute, practically an impossibility. Common t . humanity makes it imperative that medicines should be made up at once, when required urgently, and the refusal to dispense a doctor's prescription, after the closing hour, might possibly endanger life. Can, therefore, a chemist be blamed for keeping his establishment open for a few minutes, hours if necessary, * after the prescribed time, to attend to cases of emergency, Would he not rather be regarded with aversion if he did not break the law a little in such instances. However, the Magistrate has decided that Mr Fitzgerald did not break the law, and that he was legally justified in keepi. ing his shop open after 9 p.m. to attend to cases of emergency. This is a point well worth the attention of .all chemists in tho Colony, for Mr . Fitzgerald, by his defence and subsequent acquittal, lias established a ■precedent which will adequately •prevent the Act, so far as chemists are concerned being administered in y an arbitrary manner. . If it had been found illegal for chemists to dispense medicines after -nine p.m., which it could be proved were urgently required, the natural I result would have been that tho I Doctors' dispensaries would be inundated. Now, if it is illegal for a publican to sell cigars and cigarettes when the, tobacconists are closed, surely it would be equally illegal for the doctors to dispense medicines when the chemists were closed? There is another point regarding the matter, Is the Inspector to decide whether a medicine is urgent or not ? It seems intolerable to suppose i that the conlidontal relations which exist between a chemist and his customer are to bepryed into by a burly menial of the Labour Department, If! Mi's Jones or Miss Brown or Mr Robinson is found in a chemist's shop TPter 9 p.m. on Wednesday night is 1 he or she to detail his or hor ailments for tho satisfaction of the In--V xpectors in order that ho maydecide .whether the caso is urgent or not ? The idea is, of course, preposterous, and yet this is what the Wellington Inspector endeavoured to do, and which Mr Fitzgerald very naturally .resented. It is 1 proposed at an early date to erect a liew hotel, in; Wellington! K on a sqale, whioh. vyijl r fce

especially adapted to therequirements of families It is a thing which is very much required, for although there aro between fifty and sixty hotels in Wellington and suburbs, yet tlioro is not onewliiehadequately fulfils the requirements of a family or residential hotel. All, or nearly all, tho hotels aro essentially commercial houses, where bag-men most do congregate, and in but few of them can any real privacy and quietness be obtained. A high-class hotel on tho model of the Australian or J Metropole in Sydney would be a real boon in Wellington,and should prove a paying speculation. I do not wish to disparage the hotel accommodation in Wellington generally, which is good enough as far as it goes, but it';should go a good deal further before this City can claim to be up to date in this respect. We are at least a quarter of a century behind other towns of the same size as this in the matter of hotel accommodation. .The "new woman "is very much en evidence in Wellington. She rides the bicycle, wears the bifurcated garment, edits newspapers, rushes for employment in the public offices, and last but not least, comes out as an orator at public meetings. An example of this latest development of the emancipation of the sex, was to be seen and heard at Sir Robert Stout's meeting, when a lady moved a vote of confidence in the senior member, and spoko to the motion j very neatly, concisely, and to the point. The " new woman " is, however, going "onebetter" still, for I hear a movement is on foot, for the formation of a woman's co-operative agricultural farm, and tho Government are to be requisitioned to grant a piece of land for the purpose, at a convenient distance from town. The scheme is i.i embryo at present, but I have no doubt more will be beard on the subject ere long, when the movement takes a definite shape,

The party of Russian Jewish immigrants who landed to-day (Tuesday), in Wellington, bv the Tainni, from London, aro respectable peoplo possessing, it is said, some small capital each. They como from the country districts in Russia, where they have been engaged in farming pursuits. Owing to the persecutions to which they have been subjected by the Anti-Semitic officials, and semi-barbarous Russian peasantry, they decided to emigrate, and the present party will be followed by others later on. As soon as possible, they will take up land in one of the back districts, and form a settlement of their own, lam informed that the Government lias been fully satisfied that these people are not of the pauper immigrant class and the fact of their having come so far at considerable cost, and their clean and respectable appearance would tend to provo this. lam told, although, I cannot vouch for the correctness of tho statement, that these are the people whose settlement in the Colony was arranged for by the Russian noblemen who travelled through the Colony some little time ago.

Little wanton boys who will go bathing in tho open waters of Port Nicholson, had better have a care to themselves, for several sharks of good size have been seen in close proximity to the shore lately. On Sunday last a monster quite ten feet long was seen gliding through the water by a party who were out for a day's excursion on the Harbour. This emphasises, more than ever, the necessity which exists for commodious swimming baths in Wellington. Although lam told this is the only case on record, of a shark attacking a bather in Wellington Harbour, still one never knows when the next may happen, as these brutes seem to be about just now.

The originators of the idea of a Wellington International Exhibition, have not made any move at present towards furthering their object. It might be well worth while to secure the services at once, of that veteran promoter and organiser of World's Shows—M, Jules Joubert—if it is seriously proposed to go into tho matter. Like an old war horse scenting the fray from afar, M. Joubert has written from Tasmania, offering his services after June next, and if an Exhibition is seriously contemplated, it would be well worth while to open up negotiations with him, As a preparatory step, however, a public meeting should be called, and then the feeling of the community could be tested as to whether an Exhibition was feasible or not, Although it is admitted an Exhibition would help to boom matters a little, yet trade is so depressed and people so despondent in Wellington, that the project would have to be taken up with energy and promptitude, to ensure success. Wellington is popularly supposed to be the most flourishing city in the Colony, as undoubtedly it is, yet I hear constantly so much complaint regarding the dulness of trade, that I cannot help wondering what the depression must be like in the other centres, if it is so bad here. One thing is quite certain, that if we are going to have an Exhibition in 18%, we must move now or never.

Everyone is asking why St. Patrick's day, which falls on Sunday next, and is to be celebrated on the following Monday, should be declared a public holiday by tho Government. It is true the Banks always close on St. Patrick's day, as tlioy do on the other saints' days, but why the Government should make an exception in favor of the natal day of Ireland's patron saint, and proclaim it a holiday is a matter of mystery. If St. Patrick's day is to be a public holiday, much more so should St, George's and St. Andrew's days be celebrated also. And why should not tho Welshman put in a claim in favor of St, David as well ? The fact is, I expect, that a certain member of the Ministry, whose department generally proclaims the holidays, being au enthusiastic Irishman has surreptitiously issued the proclamation without consulting -tho rest j of his colleagues.

There is a wild rumour floating round, which I give you for what it is worth, that Parliament is to be asked next session to sanction a huge lottery for the disposal of the surplus estates now in the hands of the Bank of New Zealand Assets Company. I do not suppose thefe is a shadow of truth in the rumour, but I mention it as showing the wild speculations wliioli are being indulged in at present regarding the disposal of these estates, which are popularly supposed 1 to he choking the life out ot our State Bank and its sister institution, tlio Assets Company. Tho-rumour is also gaining ground oray day that the amalgamation of the Bank of New Zealand and the Colonial Bank may be looked upon as taking pjflgp for a certainty before the close of the

Mi 1 Thomas Salt, Chairman, and Mr Wilson, General Manager of the Midland Railway Company are now in Wellington busily engaged in getting matters in readiness for the great arbitration case which is shortly to come on for argument. Sir Bruce Burnside, the eminent English jurist and ex-Chief Justice of Ceylon, was expected to arrivo in Wellington to-day, to take up his duties as arbitrator for the Company. It is not known yet whom the Government will select as their arbitrator, but I hear the selection is to be made next week. It is stated that a Supreme Court Judge will not be appointed, but whoever is selected will undoubtedly liavo to be a man of considerable legal eminence. The arbitration is expected to last nearly a year I am informed, and undoubtedly the amount involved (£1,500,000), is so stupendous, that the claims may bo said to constitute a record in the history of any Colonial Government. The llrogden claims against this Colony pale into insignificance compared to this mighty claim, for at the most they only involved, I believe, the paltry bagatelle of £60,000 at the most. Three of the leading members of the New Zealand bar, two of them Wellington barristers, have been engaged as counsel for the Company. The counsel for the Government are j not, mentioned yet. The future development of this cause celcke will bo awaited with breathless interest. At present the majority of peoplo hardly seem to realise how big n thing the Colony is in for, nor what we stand to lose or win upon the issues which are to be submitted to the arbitrators.

It has over and over again been remarked what an abnormally strong tendency there is on the part of Wellington juries to acquit prisoners upon the least possible excuse. This tendency is particularly apparent in the Criminal Session of the Supreme Court, which is now taking place. The old plea of giving the prisoner the benefit of a doubt is all very well, but when there is something considerably less than a doubt the question becomes serious. There were two instances at least last week where gross miscarriage of justice look place. We have been brought up to believe from time immemorial that trial by jury was the chief bulwark of English liberty, but really when one carefully watches tho vagaries of a Wellington jury you wonder whether the system is uot becoming cll'ete.

| The burglar question is assuming [a most serious aspect in Wellington, and the police appear to be powerless to elfect any capture There have, for the last month or so, been quite a number of these burglaries which have not been made public for police reasons. The affair on the Terrace on Monday morning has, however, elicited the fact that for some time past a gang of these ruffians have been at work in various parts of the town. In some instances articles of considerable value have beeeu stolen, butin the majority of cases the burglars got but little for their pains, The burglary on the Terrace early on Monday morning was really a most serious one, as articles of considerable value were taken, mention of which has been carefully kept out of the town papers. The police are now making special and determined efforts to secure these desperadoes, but in the meantime householders go to bed every night in fear and trembling and their apprehensions will not be allayed until they hear these gentry are safo under Mr Garvcv's charge on Mount Cook.